Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, Super Falcons midfielder Jennifer Echegini has boldly challenged the stereotypes often associated with African teams.
Randy Waldrum's team secured their first Olympics qualification since 2008 by defeating South Africa with an aggregate scoreline of 1-0 over a two-legged fixture.
Placed in Group C, Nigeria will face stiff competition from the reigning world champions, Spain, who are making their Olympics debut. Also, two-time Olympic silver medalists Brazil and London 2012 silver medalists Japan add to the formidable lineup of opponents.
The new Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player believes that Nigeria and African teams, in general, possess much more than their renowned speed and strength.
Super Falcons stars just as good as England's, Netherlands' – Echegini
In a recent interview with beatsandryhmes, the 23-year-old reflected on the common misconceptions on how Nigerian and other African teams are often underestimated:
“I feel like as a Nigeria or any other African team, they underestimate our football ability and they kind of just base us off strength and speed. It’s always ‘Oh they are strong and powerful’, but we can also play,” Echegini said.
“I feel like a lot of times, teams don’t expect that, and they’ll be surprised when we start playing around them. I prefer if they don’t expect it because it makes things easier for us, but whenever I hear people talking about Nigeria, it’s always ‘strong’ or ‘fast’, and I’m like, ‘we’re not just that, you know?’
“A lot of us grew up playing the exact same way as those England girls or the Dutch girls, so it’s kind of funny when people say we’re just speed and strength. We went through the same process growing up. We just chose to represent the Nigerian team.”
The Super Falcons are currently in a training camp in Seville, Spain, preparing rigorously for the upcoming tournament. They will commence their campaign with an opening game against Brazil on July 25 at the Stade de Bordeaux.
Echegini has made nine appearances for Nigeria and scored one goal, which came against New Zealand in an international friendly in April 2023.
